Apple's Jonathan Ive introduced the world to the now-iconic designs of the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and most recently, the new iPad. Recently, the London native turned California resident was knightedfor his contributions to design, an achievement he spoke about in an interview with Britain's Evening Standard.

"I was absolutely thrilled, and at the same time completely humbled," Ive, Apple's senior vice president of industrial design, said of his knighthood. "I am very aware that I'm the product of growing up in England, and the tradition of designing and making, of England industrializing first. The emphasis and value on ideas and original thinking is an innate part of British culture, and in many ways, that describes the traditions of design."

Ive, who has worked with Apple for about two decades, left the U.K. for Silicon Valley in 1992. Despite rumors that surfaced last spring claiming he would leave the Mac maker to return to England, he shows no signs of departing anytime soon.

His minimalist designs that are now known as Apple signatures, helped boost the success of various products out of Cupertino in the past 10 years.

"We struggle with the right words to describe the design process at Apple, but it is very much about designing and prototyping and making," he said. "When you separate those, I think the final result suffers. If something is going to be better, it is new, and if it's new you are confronting problems and challenges you don't have references for. To solve and address those requires a remarkable focus. There's a sense of being inquisitive and optimistic, and you don't see those in combination very often."

Ive also spoke about the design process.

"The nature of having ideas and creativity is incredibly inspiring. There is an idea which is solitary, fragile and tentative and doesn't have form. What we've found here is that it then becomes a conversation, although remains very fragile," he continued. "When you see the most dramatic shift is when you transition from an abstract idea to a slightly more material conversation. But when you made a 3D model, however crude, you bring form to a nebulous idea, and everything changes - the entire process shifts. It galvanizes and brings focus from a broad group of people. It's a remarkable process."

Leslie Horn joined the PCMag team as a news reporter in the fall of 2010. She covers a wide range of topics from digital media to the latest Apple rumor. After graduating with a degree in Magazine Journalism from the University of Missouri, she wrote for Out & About, a travel guide in coastal Maine. One of her favorite reporting experiences was covering the 2008 Olympics from Beijing. She travels every chance she gets, and recently spent time backpacking along the coast of Brazil. Though she...
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